A little whimsy, a little wonder, and a whole lot of heart.
The Audacity of Calling Myself a Writer
Finding the courage to call myself a writer.
Julia Lyn
10/22/20261 min read
A year ago, I was a teacher, a mother, and a wife. Inherently, there was nothing wrong with that. Growing up, I had always imagined I would be a writer, but I had never finished a story.
One day, I wrote a story. I had finally completed one. Soon, I wrote another and another. I can only imagine this is what it feels like to be high on drugs (growing up, I was the studious, nerdy type who never did anything wrong). Here I was, so high. And happy. When I was done with each story, I felt empty. Incomplete. I needed more.
More.
More.
And with that, I was a teacher, a mother, a wife, and now a junkie—I mean writer. Something had changed.
Awakened.
I felt audacious calling myself a writer.
Being a writer and telling someone you are a writer are two totally different things. I kept it to myself at first. I was embarrassed by my lack of experience. Worse, I feared I lacked talent. Finally, I shared it with a few close people. This wasn't so bad. In fact, this felt great.
I still kept my ambitions from the rest of the world and continued writing. I read books and watched webinars. I started attending workshops. I took days off work and didn't tell my coworkers why. In fact, a year later, only a few people from school know about my goals. I simply do not talk about it.
Even most of my family, other than my spouse, didn't know for a long time. That didn’t change until my sister, who I'd shared my stories with, accidentally exposed me to my parents.
What was I trying to hide? Writing made me happy. It consumed so much of my free thought. So much of my time (that was never free—I had to make time). Why would I not want to share that with the world?
Is there audacity in calling myself a writer? Or is the audacity still not believing it?
Do I believe it now?
I do, or at least I can feel myself getting closer. Imposter syndrome is real (more on that later).
However, I write, therefore…
I am a writer—audacity and all.
